JAN

See also:

• JACOB
• JACOB, JOHN (1812-1858)

JACOB LODEWIJK TEN KATE (1819-1889)  , Dutch divine, prose writer and poet, was born at The Hague on the 23rd of December 1819 . He started in life as a lawyer's clerk . It was his friend, Dr Heldring, pastor at Hemmen, in Gelder-land, who, discovering in Ten Kate the germs of poetical genius, enabled him to study theology at the university of Utrecht (1838-43) . Having completed his studies, Ten Kate became pastor at Middelburg, Amsterdam, and other places, meanwhile developing well-nigh ceaseless activity, both in prose and lyric poetry . Among his prose works may be mentioned the travel papers (Rhine, 1861; Italy, 1857–62), Christelijke Overdenkingen (" Thoughts of a Christian," 1849–52), and other religious studies . His early poetry was in the main original . The best known of his poems were—Ahasuerus op de Grimsel (" Ahasuerus on the Grimsel," 1840) ; Zangen des Tijds (" Songs of the Times," 1841); Legenden en Mengelpoezie (" Legends and Detached Poems," 1846); In den Bloemhof (" In the Flower Garden," 1851); De Schepping (" The Creation," 1866); De Planeten (" The Planets," 1869); De Jaargetijden (" The Seasons," 1871); De Psalmen (" The Psalms," 1874); De Vrouw in het Nederlandsch Lied (" Woman in Dutch Song," 1882); Palmtakken en Dichthloemen (" Palm-branches and Flowers of Poesy," 1884) . Ten Kate reached the pinnacle of his poetic fame in The Creation, The Planets, and The Seasons . These poems certainly show a masterly grasp of his mother tongue and a wonderful facility of expression, coupled with graceful vigour and fertile fancy . These qualities he also plentifully displayed in the innumerable traabslations he made of many of the master-pieces of foreign poetry in nearly every European language . He had not only an extraordinary aptitude for learning alien idioms, but also the gift of translating foreign lyrics into clear, fluent and beautiful Dutch verse . Ten Kate's versatility in this respect has never been equalled; it extended from Tasso and Andersen to Dante, Schiller, Victor Hugo, Milton, Tennyson and Longfellow .

Ten Kate died at Amsterdam on the 24th of December 1889 . His

complete Poetic Works were published after his death in 12 volumes (Leiden, 1891) .